Editorial
SC's data bank welcome
An essential step towards digitisation taken
With 18 lakh cases pending at the lower courts, over 14,000 cases awaiting adjudication at the Appellate Division and 2.82 lakh others at the High Court, case management through digitisation is the right way to go.
The Supreme Court has introduced a data bank as a solid starting point towards digitisation of the judiciary. The data centre will preserve judgments, orders, cause lists and other relevant information to facilitate access to case information by litigants. That which used to be removed and destroyed earlier on would now be archived.
Besides having reference value, the system would serve current needs of litigants, the Bar and the Bench. The network is set to be expanded to district headquarters in phases.
What is to be particularly noted is that anyone will be able to know recent status of a case simply by sending an SMS to a designated address.
Very importantly, the apex court authorities have set up 5 digital display screens on the SC premises which show information about cases heard and disposed of at two divisions everyday. The status on other cases will also be exhibited.
The overarching dividends to be had from digitisation would be making justice delivery system affordable, accessible, cost-effective, and, above all, transparent and accountable.
The first major stride has been taken, now the nucleus of a system will have to be expanded, sustained, maintained and upgraded to cover and serve a wider range of users. People will have to be made aware of the facilities so that they can use them. Updating the website is a job cut out for the IT technology staffers. Since they have themselves developed the system, albeit with government funding, their commitment to it should be unquestionable. As we congratulate the Supreme Court on taking a long overdue step we urge all concerned to energetically pursue the cause of digitisation which is but a continuing process.
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